One-glance verdict
Within fair range
$109.66 our estimate vs market $84.81
Wall Street consensus: $95.12 (-13.3% lower than our fair-value estimate)
23% below our estimate
Fundamentals snapshot
The Estée Lauder Companies Inc.
EL · NYQ · Consumer Defensive · Household & Personal Products
Current price
$84.81
52-week range
$66.22 - $121.64
Market cap
$30.68B
Balance sheet
Stretched
3.20x Stretched
Net debt $6.17B. Interest coverage shows how many times profit covers the interest bill.
What stands out
3 Rewards
3 Risks
3 rewards · 3 risks
- Reward Revenue grew 3.5% last year.
- Reward Free cash flow was positive in 10/10 years.
- Risk Net debt grew 77.5% over 3 years.
- Risk Return on equity was -5.9% last year — the company lost money on shareholders' equity.
What this company does
The Estée Lauder Companies Inc.
Estée Lauder owns a collection of well-known beauty brands, selling everything from La Mer skin cream to M·A·C lipstick and Jo Malone perfumes all over the world. The company makes most of its money from skin care and makeup, which are often sold at premium prices and can lead to strong profit margins (the percentage of sales that turn into profit). This reliance on the luxury market means its performance can be sensitive to the health of the global economy and travel, as many of its products are sold to travelers in airports.
How the company got here
The Estée Lauder Companies was started by Estée and Joseph Lauder in New York City in 1946 with just four skincare products. A key moment was landing their first major department store account with Saks Fifth Avenue in 1948. Another turning point was the 1953 launch of Youth-Dew, a bath oil that doubled as a perfume, which turned the company into a multi-million dollar business. Over the years, it grew by expanding internationally, creating new brands like Clinique in 1968, and acquiring other popular brands like M·A·C and Bobbi Brown.
What it actually does
The Estée Lauder Companies makes and sells high-end beauty products. You've likely seen their brands in department stores or specialty beauty shops like Sephora. They own a wide variety of well-known brands, including Estée Lauder, Clinique, M·A·C, La Mer, Jo Malone London, Aveda, and The Ordinary. Their products are sold in about 150 countries and include everything from moisturizers and makeup to perfumes and shampoos.
Skin Care
This is the company's largest business segment, making up nearly half of its sales. This division sells products like moisturizers, serums, cleansers, and eye creams that help with things like aging and hydration. Some of the most recognizable brands in this category are the main Estée Lauder line, the ultra-luxury La Mer, and the science-focused brands Dr.Jart+ and The Ordinary.
Makeup
This is the second-biggest part of the company, representing a little less than a third of its business. It includes all kinds of color cosmetics, from foundations and powders to lipsticks and mascaras. Big names in this segment that you might recognize are M·A·C, known for its professional-quality products, as well as Clinique, Bobbi Brown Cosmetics, and Too Faced.
Fragrance
This segment sells perfumes, colognes, and scented lotions and candles, and it's a fast-growing part of the company. The company focuses on high-end and artisanal (made in small batches with special attention to craft) scents. Well-known brands in this category include the popular Jo Malone London, Tom Ford Beauty, Le Labo, and KILIAN PARIS.
Hair Care
This is the smallest of the four segments, making up a small slice of the company's total sales. This division offers shampoos, conditioners, styling products, and hair color, mostly sold through salons. The main brands you would see in this category are Aveda and Bumble and bumble.
What management is betting on now
The company's leadership is focused on a plan called "Beauty Reimagined" to help the business grow and become more profitable. A key part of this is investing more in their most popular and fastest-growing areas, like science-based skin care and luxury fragrances. They are also working to expand in newer markets like India and Latin America to reduce their reliance on any single region. Finally, they are using technology like artificial intelligence (using computers to make smart decisions) to better understand what customers want and to make their supply chain (the process of making and shipping products) more efficient.
Price history
How the share price has moved
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Loading price history…
Earnings history
Last 8 quarters — what happened
Click any quarter to read the call summary and what the numbers say.
FY2024 Q4
$672.00M
FY2025 Q1
$-811.00M
FY2025 Q2
$925.00M
FY2025 Q3
$162.00M
FY2025 Q4
$394.00M
FY2026 Q1
$-436.00M
FY2026 Q2
$1.02B
FY2026 Q3
$310.00M
Revenue
$3.71B
Net income
$89.00M
Diluted EPS
0.24
Operating cash flow
$412.00M
Free cash flow
$310.00M
Fetching…
Sources
Revenue
$4.23B
Net income
$162.00M
Diluted EPS
0.44
Operating cash flow
$1.12B
Free cash flow
$1.02B
Fetching…
Sources
Revenue
$3.48B
Net income
$47.00M
Diluted EPS
0.13
Operating cash flow
$-340.00M
Free cash flow
$-436.00M
Fetching…
Sources
Revenue
$3.41B
Net income
—
Diluted EPS
-1.52
Operating cash flow
$601.00M
Free cash flow
$394.00M
Fetching…
Sources
Revenue
$3.55B
Net income
$159.00M
Diluted EPS
0.44
Operating cash flow
$284.00M
Free cash flow
$162.00M
Fetching…
Sources
Revenue
$4.00B
Net income
$-590.00M
Diluted EPS
-1.64
Operating cash flow
$1.06B
Free cash flow
$925.00M
Fetching…
Sources
Revenue
$3.36B
Net income
$-156.00M
Diluted EPS
-0.43
Operating cash flow
$-670.00M
Free cash flow
$-811.00M
Fetching…
Sources
Revenue
$3.87B
Net income
—
Diluted EPS
-0.79
Operating cash flow
$889.00M
Free cash flow
$672.00M
Fetching…
Sources
Is it cheap or expensive?
Fair value $109.66 vs current price $84.81
Wall Street consensus is the average analyst price target: $95.12 (-13.3% lower than our fair-value estimate).
Our most-likely fair value is $109.66 a share — about 29.3% away from today's price of $84.81, so the stock currently looks fairly priced.
Is it drowning in debt?
Stretched
Net debt $6.2B. Interest coverage 3.2x.
Net debt
$6.17B
Interest coverage
3.20x
The Estée Lauder Companies Inc.'s profit covers its interest bill about 3.2 times over. which is stronger than most peers shown here and 1 peers sit below 1x, which is the danger zone where profit does not fully cover the interest bill.
Stretched
Worse cushion
Baseline
Better cushion
EL
BASELINE
The Estée Lauder Companies Inc.
Total debt $9.30B Interest coverage 3.20x This is the baseline the peer rows are being compared against.
Total debt $13.65B Interest coverage 23.72x +642% vs EL Carries about 7.4x more debt cushion than EL.
Total debt $37.03B Interest coverage 22.55x +605% vs EL Carries about 7.1x more debt cushion than EL.
Total debt $3.42B Interest coverage 2.34x -27% vs EL Carries about 1.4x less debt cushion than EL.
Total debt $2.14B Interest coverage -4.58x -100% vs EL This peer has almost no interest-payment cushion compared with EL.
Total debt $42.12B Interest coverage 15.35x +380% vs EL Carries about 4.8x more debt cushion than EL.
What you should know
The case for and against EL
3 Rewards
3 Risks
Rewards
-
Revenue grew 3.5% last year.
-
Free cash flow was positive in 10/10 years.
-
Dividend yield is 1.7% with 31-year payout history.
Risks
-
Net debt grew 77.5% over 3 years.
-
Return on equity was -5.9% last year — the company lost money on shareholders' equity.
-
Operating margin compressed from 20.0% to 14.9% over 3 years.
The numbers
All the key metrics, grouped by purpose
Tap any ? icon to learn what it means.
Valuation
How expensive the stock looks
P/E (TTM)
—
Forward P/E
26.63x
P/B
7.68x
P/S
2.07x
EV/EBITDA
15.68x
PEG ratio
1.42x
Profitability
How much profit each dollar creates
Gross margin
74.7%
Operating margin
14.9%
Net margin
-1.7%
ROE
-5.9%
ROA
4.9%
Health
Liquidity and balance-sheet strength
Debt / equity
2.33x
Current ratio
1.27x
Quick ratio
0.82x
Total debt
$9.30B
Total cash
$3.13B
Growth
How the business has been compounding
Revenue TTM
$14.83B
Revenue 5Y CAGR
-3.0%
EPS TTM
-0.70
EPS 5Y CAGR
—
Cash flow
How much cash the business throws off
Operating CF TTM
$1.80B
Free CF TTM
$670.00M
FCF margin
4.5%
Dividend
Shareholder payout
Yield
1.7%
Payout ratio
471.4%
Last ex-div date
2026-05-29